Impact of Health and Safety Management on Female Machine Operators’ Performance in Gampaha District, Sri Lanka

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Health and safety management on the working performance of machine operators in the apparel sector (with special reference to the Gampaha district). The Physical and environmental conditions, ergonomics and psychosocial conditions, and Health and safety practices of the company were considered as the independent variables. Female workers’ working performance was considered the dependent variable. 300 female machine operators is used as the sample for the study. The questionnaire was used to collect data from probation-level employees. Respondents’ agreement and disagreement were indicated on the Five Point Likert Scale as the scaling method. The measurement scale for independent and dependent variables was an interval. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. Mean and standard deviation was used for all the variables for univariate analysis and correlation coefficient and regression analysis was used for bivariate analysis. The hypotheses were tested using the Pearson Product Movement Correlation Coefficient (r). The result of the correlation analysis illustrated that the Physical & Environmental factors, Ergonomics and psychosocial factors, and Health & Safety practices of the company, were positively correlated with female workers working performance. Also, this study concluded that there is a significant impact of Physical & Environmental factors, ergonomics and psychosocial factors, and Health & Safety practices of the company on female worker performance in the apparel industry. The adjusted R2 was 0.104 showing that there was a 10.4% the variation in female workers’ working performance which is accounted for by the combined effects of the Physical and environmental conditions, ergonomics and psychosocial conditions, and Health & Safety practices of the company. It indicates that a sufficient portion of the model (10.4%) is fit for the population. Also, this study reveals some recommendations to improve the organization’s health and safety management and working performance among the employees.